JT: Future Sports SuperStar!

A few days ago we dropped in on our #2 daughter and her family for a quick visit. They just had a new baby and we hadn't seen him (or the rest of the family for that matter) in about a week or so, and it seemed a nice night for a visit. Especially since we were in the neighborhood.

Our 21 month old grandson has had a "thing" for balls since he was pretty young. If you are out of ideas for a birthday or Christmas gift for the little guy, buy him a new ball and you will be his new best friend. He packs them around, he throws them (naturally), and just in general loves balls of every size and shape. He was playing a game of "catch" with his mommy, and one of us commented on how much he loved balls and how good he was at throwing them (remember, he's not even 2 years old yet).

This prompted his daddy to relate the following story:

One day, when JT was about 18 months old, and maybe younger, "Dad" was sitting in JT's room, reading or doing something. "JT" was also in the room, but his daddy wasn't paying much attention to him. The chair which Dad was sitting in was next to a dresser, and on this dresser was a plastic inflatable reindeer. As Dad sat there reading or doing whatever (he never did really tell us what he was doing), this reindeer kept falling off the dresser. Dad reached down, picked it up and placed back on the dresser, only to have it fall off again a couple minutes later. After a few minutes of this, Dad began to wonder just why this reindeer was falling off the dresser--he was sure he was putting it back on far enough from the edge to keep it from falling. So Dad watched the reindeer. At that point, something went flying past Dad's head, and the reindeer fell to the ground one more time. He picked up the reindeer again, then watched JT. WHAM! JT let fly with one of his balls and pegged that reindeer--knocking him right off the dresser.

(end of story)

It didn't take long for JT to learn to shoot baskets. They keep a diaper pail in the garage where all the disposable diapers go when they've been used up pretty good. JT loves to open the door to the garage and throw those diapers into the pail. His daddy says he only misses about one in seven tries. He's also learned to stand in his crib and shoot balls into his Fisher-Price basketball hoop. He doesn't miss very often there, either.

We can't decide if he'll grow up to be a basketball or baseball star. He is also a good slider. Their floors are made of laminate (fake wood), and he likes to get a running start down the hallway, and slide into the kitchen on his knees. Works real good when he's in sweats--not so good if he's only wearing a diaper & t-shirt. This is something else he taught himself.

Yup, in about 20-25 years, we may see headlines about the athletic prowess of one "JT --------" Or sooner, in the case of little league and/or high school sports!